ATLANTA — Outfielder Brian Goodwin could be active for the Nationals this weekend in Atlanta, his manager said Thursday. Goodwin has been out since mid-April with a wrist injury of undisclosed severity. He first injured it diving for a ball, at which point no one seemed to think much was wrong. Six weeks later, he is finally ready to return.

“Goodwin is really, really close,” Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said. “He’s supposed to play nine innings today, so we’ll see what happens … I talked to [Harrisburg manager] Matt LeCroy today, and he says he is playing really well.”

For the moment, clearing space on the roster for Goodwin will be easy. Andrew Stevenson, another left-handed hitting outfielder, needs to play to develop. Since the arrival and emergence of fellow left-handed hitting outfielder Juan Soto, Stevenson has not had the chance to do so. The Nationals can send him back to Class AAA Syracuse to do that. No complications there.

But while Goodwin’s official roster spot will come easily, his role will be harder to define in the weeks to come.

In semiregular playing time last season and early this year, Goodwin hit .251 with an .808 OPS. He can provide strong defense at all three outfield positions. He handles left-handed pitching well — better than right-handed pitching, according to his career splits, which indicate that his OPS is nearly 200 points higher left on left.

Still, one option for Martinez would be to play Goodwin against righties and Michael A. Taylor against lefties. Taylor continues to struggle to find his way offensively, though he is a better defensive center fielder than Goodwin.

But once Adam Eaton returns, something the outfielder believes will happen in a week or so, Goodwin’s position will grow more complicated. First of all, the Nationals will need to send someone out to clear space for Eaton. They’ve been carrying an extra reliever, so they could look there, though they have a logjam of veterans in that spot, too. In the outfield, they will have Soto, Taylor, Goodwin, and Bryce Harper waiting when Eaton returns, with room for four of them at the most. If Soto is hitting major league pitching, the Nationals probably will not want to send him back to the minors. If he is playing every day at the highest level, why send him somewhere else? Taylor seems unlikely to go either, particularly because that outfield is so left-handed heavy, and he is the most talented defender of all.

Eaton and Harper are not optional, either. Where will Goodwin fit on the roster, let alone in the playing time mix? With Soto hitting, Goodwin probably will not get many at-bats in which to prove he should stay.

The Nationals began this season anticipating an outfield logjam, though the situation has changed dramatically in two months. Victor Robles was supposed to be the youngster pushing for time, but he is out until after the all-star break. Stevenson and Rafael Bautista were supposed to be the next men up, with Goodwin rotating for fairly regular playing time. Bautista tore up his knee earlier this month and is out for the season. Stevenson has struggled. Goodwin has seen Soto seize what might have been his spot, and then some.

Surpluses like that are tricky, but not necessarily problematic. The Nationals deal from areas of strength to address areas of weakness, and in Goodwin, they have a proven, major league-ready outfielder with defensive versatility that can hit left-handed pitching. A few teams could probably use a guy like that, should the Nationals decide to explore those options. They could also decide to option Goodwin back to the minors until they need him, which would be a blow to his stature given that he has established himself over the last two seasons, but would keep him in the organization.

Then again, all of this assumes everyone stays healthy over the next few weeks, that no further injuries require shuffling. If the first two months of this season are any indication, that is not a safe assumption at all. If everyone does stay healthy, the Goodwin conundrum will be one of the more tolerable injury-related problems with which the Nationals have to wrestle this year. They have spent so much time with too few regulars available for their service. They probably won’t mind having a few too many.

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